The First Month of Spring - A Gentle Push to Wake Up

The beginning of February this year has been rather dynamic. Apart from the passage from the element of Water to Wood marking the start of the new season, Spring, there is the concomitance with the start of the Lunar New Year in energetic Water Tiger with the New Moon in dynamic and forward looking Acquarius. Some celebrate Calendora others celebrate Imbolc, where both signify a pivot when the Winter visibly withdraws.

I have just read the last year's update for this month and realised we are having much more of an energetic push than the same time last year. Additionally, at the moment of this passage all of the astrological planets have gone direct. So, not only do we get the push from the Nature ready to sprout but also from the Planets that encourage all movement forward.

Given such combination of energies, I strongly encourage you to make some plans for the next months at least. The energy is moving now, so observe the flows and coincidences and have the courage to follow them. This month is going to be fast, flowing and will bring new events. You may wish to read on the Lunar New Year energy to help you plan the year ahead (https://www.dorotakowal.com/post/lunar-new-year-improving-your-health-with-the-energy-of-water-tiger).

Some of you will welcome it more than others. In either case, it is helpful to feel more light and elastic in our body. Hence, it is time to re-adjust the diet and do a daily dose of stretching and get a daily walk. Diet-wise, we can now include more raw foods, although we still need to balance it with hot meals. An excellent food to eat at this time are sprouts, which correspond energetically to this season. They are raw but not as cooling as salads, for example.

February is an excellent time to start a body detox. Remember that making our bodies strong and healthy is not only dependent on what we consume and supplements we take but equally dependent on what we avoid to eat. This month let's start taking out all alcohol, coffee and processed sugar. My ideal way to do it is gradual withdrawal, one food at the time. This way the body gets time to adjust. If you wish to book an appointment to plan a detox and include detox with acupuncture, contact me.

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All the way, be also aware of not overdoing it as we are still only just coming out of the Winter inertia. If you begin to get headaches, blood-shot eyes, strapped tendons (hopefully not), these may be signs you are overdoing it. Stretch yourself in time; Spring is only just beginning and you have more than just one month to do it all.

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The Third Month of Winter - Rebirth

Although we have already passed the darkest days of the Winter, namely the Winter Solstice, and the days are getting longer rather than shorter now, we are still in full Winter season. The 6th of January has marked the beginning of the third month of Winter, according to the ancient Su Wen text.

Although it may not be the darkest month, it is named by the classics as the coldest month of the year. Temperature wise, this month has the opposite effect to the month following the Summer Solstice when the temperatures increase after the Sun passes its peak. Now, following the Winter Solstice, Sun's lowest point, the temperatures are getting colder and colder. There is little to none Yang to warm the Earth up. The temperatures plummet down as Yin energy continues to dominate in the environment. Some animals which are hibernating have their heart rates slowed down for this period. We are not the hibernating species but we still feel the need to go slow. It will be felt more so this year from mid January when Mercury will go retrograde. Mercury is associated with Water and Winter element as well. So, in addition to things feeling Winter-slow, we will have a sensation that Winter is never going to end. That will only be an impression that will be fading away by the end of the first week of February.

What this month is good for is to ponder on our inner world. Again, Mercury retrograde will help us do so. Considering we have just entered the new solar year and will be entering the new lunar year (Chinese New Year) on the 1st of February, there is a lot to reflect upon. In addition, the new lunar year we are about to enter is going to be the year of Water Tiger. Reflection is a Water element quality when we think about looking at ourselves like in a mirror.

The Water qualities I highlighted in my previous month's update, we can continue to cultivate this month. By that I mean behaving like Water, implementing its energetic qualities in our daily life. We might have done quite a lot of gathering, outpouring and diffusing in the past month whilst celebrating the festive season with our nearest and dearest. Now it may be time to concentrate on other Water qualities such as flowing, being present, compressing the energy and going into the most hidden parts of ourselves.

So, when we examine our reflection and face the most hidden parts of ourselves, we may find both the gems we forgot we had and/or old dusty cobwebbed stuff we forgot we still hide inside. This month is the time to uncover just that what will serve us to achieve our 2022 plans and goals. In addition, us being present will be necessary to feel and assess best the situation we are currently in. Finally, compressing the energy during this month will be essential for starting up full steam when the time is ripe and being able to keep the ambition going all the way until our plans and goals are achieved.

In summary, January is the month of great preparedness of ourselves, our position and our strength in order to wake into a new cycle of life which is about to be birthed.

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The Second Month of Winter - watch out for extremes

According to Su Wen classics, the 7th December marks the beginning of the Second Month of Winter, the month of the shortest days of the year. This month marks the "dark" side of the year, hence in many traditions we celebrate light festivals, keeping the light going.

As in nature so for us it is the time for exploring our own dark sides, the most inner parts of us that we rarely look into. The "indwelling power" of Water element (element of Winter) is helping us to dwell into our depths to discover or re-discover our true power, strength and identity. Here the light is needed to explore and face the darkest parts of ourselves. In antiquity, it was actually the Water that was celebrated and revered during this time. It was understood that in Nature it was Water that transported light into the dark depths of the Earth as it was the rain that transported the light of the Sun through the Winter clouds.

Therefore, it was time to give reverence to all aspects of Water, which the ancients listed as: gathering, flowing, outpouring, present, diffusing, compressing and hidden. These are both active and static qualities. It is most appropriate to dwell on these qualities in ourselves during December month, both for psychological and physical wellbeing. And as always, the key is in balancing off these extreme qualities. Living in the extreme part of the year we are more prone to extremes ourselves, so there is a word of precaution in the ancient texts.

To give some examples. We organise friends and/or family gatherings in order to connect with our identity but if we rely too much on that we may loose our own personal identity. We may want to take up running as an activity to boost our strength and stamina but we need to balance it with meditation to practice being present. We make and give presents to outpour our generosity but equally we need to save (compress) our forces and resources to arrive to the end of the Winter. Some days we may just feel like we want to hide from the world and literally go into hibernation whilst other days we may need to diffuse some of our essence to mark our presence in the world. So, just as an erratic nature of Water, so are we erratic during its season.

The prevalence of our activity during this month should be, however, of Yin quality (slow and static). Since we will not receive any external energy, as there is nearly none Yang in the Nature, and we may expose ourselves to consume much of our own reserves.

Diet wise, it is advisable to eat root vegetables and anything that has a compressed amount of nutrients (superfoods, seeds) and aquatic foods and vegetables. For those who eat meat you may notice more requirement for meat and fatty foods in Winter months as they are warming and nutritious. In order to compensate for the cold and humid-cold weather, we need to consume hot meals, soups, stir-fried or oven baked foods. We need to choose warming foods and spices like ginger, garlic, leeks, pepper, coriander, nuts, all pumpkins, to name a few. But again a word of precaution, we often go into nutritious extremes when Christmas time comes ;-)

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